Ecotheology

Definition and Meaning

Ecotheology is a field that brings the whole world God has made, that is, the entire created order, within the concerns of faith and addresses environmental issues theologically. Its meaning sometimes overlaps with that of terms such as "theology of creation" and "creation care."

Biblical and Historical Background

Ecotheology takes the creation narrative as its starting point. It reads "have dominion" in Genesis 1:28 not as permission to use nature however one pleases but as a responsibility entrusted to human beings, who bear the image of God. On the basis of the phrase "to dress it and to keep it" in Genesis 2:15, it also regards human beings as stewards (those who manage what belongs to their master). Also frequently cited are the sabbatical year regulations, which gave rest even to the land (Leviticus 25), and Romans 8:19-23, which speaks of the creation groaning as it awaits restoration.

A 1967 article by the historian Lynn White Jr. in the journal Science is generally regarded as the catalyst for serious discussion of modern ecotheology. In that article White argued that the anthropocentric view of nature in Western Christianity lay at the root of the ecological crisis. Jürgen Moltmann and others subsequently developed ecological concerns into a theological theme. The World Council of Churches, under the banner of "Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation," held a world convocation in Seoul in 1990. Among evangelicals, the 2010 Cape Town Commitment of the Lausanne Movement addressed creation care. In the Catholic Church, the encyclical Laudato si', issued by Pope Francis in 2015, attracted wide attention.

Practice in the Korean Church

Member denominations of the National Council of Churches in Korea, along with Christian environmental organizations, have promoted activities such as the observance of Environment Sunday and the Green Church movement. Some denominations, including the Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, are known to include a Season of Creation in their liturgical calendar, setting aside a period in the autumn for meditation on the created order.

Conservative denominations also accept the need for environmental protection from the perspective of the cultural mandate and the calling to stewardship. Some, however, caution that certain forms of ecotheology exhibit pantheistic tendencies that blur the distinction between the Creator and nature, or have been influenced by process theology, and that they may place social agendas ahead of evangelism. Proponents of ecotheology respond that creation and redemption cannot be separated and that a faith that confesses the Creator must also entail care for the created world.

Some observers note that, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, a growing number of churches across denominational lines have adopted practices such as reducing the use of disposable products and conserving energy.